Have Been Unlucky With Women – Veteran Actor, Fred Amata

From directing one of Nigeria’s most successful soap operas, Rip­ples to producing movies, Fred Amata has definitely etched his name in gold. In this chat with Entertain­er, Amata, who cut his teeth working at NTA, opens up on his career, Nollywood and his late dad, the legendary John Amata. Excerpts:

Your father produced Freedom, Nige­ria’s first celluloid film in 1967, and started the filmmaking dynasty of the Amatas, Could you recount your early years with him?

Dad gave us an opportunity to express ourselves. He was a very principled man. He had an open door policy and strongly believed in using his recourses to alleviate human suffering. Dad left the University College, Ibadan in 1955. He was six months away from graduation when he dropped out of the university. He was studying Classics and was Wole Soyinka’s contemporary. Somewhere along the line, he evolved this ideology that human nature could be changed if one lived one’s life in accordance with the four absolute moral standards, which are honesty, absolute purity, unself­ishness and absolute love. That was what his movie, Freedom was all about. It was actually projecting the challenges of that time which are the same challenges facing us today.

Could you recount one memorable mo­ment with him?

One I won’t forget soon was the only day he beat me. I beat up my younger brother, Ruke despite several warnings from him and ran away, but he chased and caught up with me and beat the living daylight out of me. He never beat us; he couldn’t hurt a fly. That was the only time he beat me. I have never forgotten that experience. He had an open door policy and was very accessible. He had books all over and was very eccen­tric; he was a man ahead of his time. Like the legendary Mahatma Gandhi, he burnt all his Western-styled clothes and started wearing wrappers to work as a lecturer.

When did you make your first movie?

That should be in 1993. It was the story of a young guy who got entangled in the occult and how he finally had an encounter with God. It was a huge success but not financially. We screened and distributed it in many churches and they loved it. Paul Obazele was in the film, so also was Alex Osifo and Paul Adams. It gave us a lot of experience. It was the first time I signed a contract for N800, 000.

That was the beginning of the phenom­enon called Nollywood. Could you recount the early years?

Wow! The early years were interesting. We were just a handful of people making films. Back then there was this scorn for people making movies. We were like ‘what is all this nonsense all about?’ Anyway I got hooked and we did Mission Impossible and it was a lot of fun. Then, I did Onome with Chico (Ejiro) and it was great! What we did then was that, if Chico had a script, we all read and critiqued it. Life in Nol­lywood was communal. I still don’t know how we achieved it. Then a time came and we started going out of Lagos to look for locations, and then we started travelling out; there are so many angles to the story of the origin of Nollywood.

Back then did you guys know that Nollywood was going to become a global phenomenon it has become today?

We just knew that we were going to make a statement whichever way the tide drifted. For instance, I had done Ripples for many years and I knew that there was something that I had that others did not have, because then, directing was almost a-no-go-area. Even the NTA staff that decided to join the fray failed woefully. But we had created a pattern, maybe from passion or hunger and that was helping us to express and show to the world the stuff we were made of. We did not think then that we were going to dominate the world, but it was not totally outside our consciousness. We aspired to be like Hollywood but we didn’t realise we were going to be number two or three in the world.

What has been your happiest moment in Nollywood?

I don’t think any one event can encap­sulate that. But some of the happiest times are when people compliment the work that I have done. There was this day I was in a bus at Ojuelegba, Lagos, and across the road was a child with his mum and the boy just shouted ‘mum, see Fred Amata!’ There was another time a child said to my hear­ing that ‘mummy, when I grow up I want to be a pastor like Fred Amata’ because I played the role of a pastor in Heaven’s Gate. Those are my happiest moments; moments when people commend me for my works. I don’t think I have had a huge financial break-through yet. The first time I went to Aso Rock was on the back of Nollywood and that was a happy moment. At another time, I was sitting at the United Nations in New York and my film was being screened, and next to me I had names like Don King, Al Sharpton, Wyclef Jean and Akon, and people from Universal Pictures watching my movie. Suddenly, I looked around, I was like ‘guy, this is the UN Headquarters and you are sitting with some of the most notable people in the world’. That’s one very happy moment for me. After seeing the film, Al Sharpton said something that I have committed to memory ever since. He said that ‘the blood that holds us together is stronger than the waters that divide us’. I was so happy and excited! Nollywood gave me an opportunity to reach out to the world and make a statement.

What has been your saddest moment?

My saddest moments are those mo­ments when we lose great talents. How could we lose JT Tom West? How could we lose Amaka Igwe? How could we lose Francis Agu and Efere Ozakor to mention a few? However, I tend to be philosophi­cal and say that, whenever we talk of Nollywood, we cannot help but mention a name like Amaka Igwe and that means she lives on; that means she made a mark because her works are still resonating. I tend to see things from a more universal point of view, so lack of financial success in Nollywood does not and has never bothered me. I am happy when I see Ni­gerians excel, so it is hard to see me sad. Kefee was such a young and talented girl but we lost her. I was shaken to my roots when Efere Ozakor died. But I think that as artistes, we are lucky because the job gives you a life after death. The other day I was watching Sam Loco all over again and I was like ‘wow! This guy is still living’. I always try to emphasise this in times of tragedy.

You are an intensely handsome man, what is the secret to your looks?

It is Jesus (laughter). I have never tried to increase or reduce my height or tried to change my complexion (laughter). People are shocked that I only use Vaseline for my hair and skin. Even if I want to shine my shoes, I use Vaseline (laughter). People will think I look this way because I exercise and play soccer but it is not so. I think it is my genes. If you look into my family back­ground, you will realise that we all have this trait.

The industry is crawling with a lot of wannabes who are ready to do anything for fame including throwing themselves at you. How are you coping with them?

I guess I have been unlucky with women, because they have not come to tell me they will do anything for me including throwing themselves at me (laughter). What normally be like you’ and stuffs like. I must confess that for a long time I had the challenge of dealing with the avahappens is that they come and say ‘help me, I want to lanche of people requesting for assistance to showcase themselves. Now, I have found a way, and if you come, you will get a chance to showcase yourself. ­

You have two kids from your marriage but you are also a very busy man, are you spending quality time with your kids?

We are in touch constantly but I don’t talk about my life, my family and my relationships. I don’t talk about them especially with journalists and I have my reasons why I have chosen that part of my life to be private and it should remain that way.

The much talked about MOPICOM bill has been identified as the tonic that will heal Nollywood, why is the bill still lying fallow despite its potentials?

There are several factors affecting the passage of the bill. It is sad that the industry does not have one voice, so there is cacophony hence we have many voices opposing and supporting whenever issues arise. However, we are still thriving despite the challenges we encounter in the industry. We want a situation where we will know that once you complete a film, you will screen it in at least a thousand theatres and make back your money so that the banks can now come in. All these have to come together and the MOPICOM bill has a central role to play in all of these.

If well harnessed, what are the potentials of Nol­lywood towards transforming the Nigerian economy especially now that the price of oil is tumbling?

There cannot be a stronger influence than the audiovisual medium. Look at the American model, a lot of people don’t know that in post war America, if you wanted to do a film, the law was that you had to propagate American values. If you look at western films, who triumphs? John Wayne. Even in Vietnam where America lost, America continues to triumph in films. We must devise a means of creating this awareness of propagating Nigerian values in Nollywood films. The baseline is that, there should be something like a fund available to assist moviemakers who want to do such movies. If well harnessed, the potentials of Nollywood cannot be quantified; Nollywood could replace oil.

Do you have any regrets making movies?

No, I think that was what I was born to do. I look at the circumstances of my birth and my environment and it all adds up. I was born into a family of filmmakers. I grew up and found out it was my talent to do movies. I actually studied Theatre Arts, but before this time, I already had a theatre group in school and in my community.